Volume 4: 華嚴 Hwaŏm I: The Mainstream Tradition

This book contains works from Korea’s Hwao˘m tradition that scholars consider to be the seminal writings of the mainstream lineage that venerated the Silla monk U˘ isang 義湘 (625–702) as its founding patriarch. Although the foundational scripture of the Hwao˘m tradition, the Avatam. saka-sūtra or Huayan jing 華嚴經, often called the Flower Garland Sūtra in English, was certainly important to the tradition, U˘ isang’s encapsulation of the essential intellectual and practical elements of this voluminous scripture in his Sealdiagram Symbolizing the Dharma Realm of the One Vehicle (Ilsu˘ ng po˘pkye to 一 乘法界圖) was widely studied in Korea and served as the focus of analytical exegesis within the mainstream lineage for several hundred years. The first part of this book is a testament to the intellectual importance and influence of the Seal-diagram and the “Gāthā on the Dharma Nature” (po˘pso˘ng ke 法性偈), which is its core message.